Law enforcement say sexual predator captured 8 years after Denver police sting
Local and federal law enforcement say a convicted sex offender has been arrested and extradited to Colorado after eight years on the run, the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office said on Monday.
David Anthony Jaramillo, 38, was apprehended in León, Guanajuato, Mexico, on Aug. 23, as part of a joint investigation with Mexican police, the FBI, and local law enforcement from across the Denver metro area. He was taken to Texas the next day and extradited back to Colorado on Sept. 8. He's awaiting trial at the Arapahoe County Detention Center on several cases out of Arapahoe, Jefferson, and Weld Counties.
"Protecting children is a top priority of the FBI, and we aggressively investigate child predators and pursue criminal cases against them," Mark Michalek, FBI special agent in charge of the Denver Field Office, said in a statement.
"In this case, the offender thought he could escape justice," he continued. "Our community is safer with him behind bars."
A photo shared by the sheriff's office shows Jaramillo in a wheelchair being escorted by police at Denver International Airport.
The investigation and search stem from several cases, most notably, a sex crimes sting led by the Denver Police Department in 2016. An undercover Denver police officer posed as a 14-year-old girl while chatting with Jaramillo, who would've been about 30 at the time, but said he was 21, according to the sheriff's office.
When he tried to meet up with who he thought was the teenage girl in Aurora, he was arrested by Aurora police officers and FBI agents without incident.
Jaramillo pled guilty the following year to sexual exploitation of a child, a felony. He failed to report to his next court hearing and has been a fugitive from justice ever since, according to the sheriff's office.
He also has active warrants in Weld County for felony menacing, assault, and child abuse, and in Jefferson County for child prostitution, sex assault on a child, and internet luring of a child.
"This case shows that no matter how long you run, you can't hide forever," said 18th Judicial District Attorney Amy Padden. "I commend Arapahoe County Sheriff Tyler Brown and his team, along with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, for their persistence and determination to bring this child predator back to face the consequences of his actions."
Brown said the arrest sends a message: "Those who prey on children and try to evade justice will eventually be found."
Investigators believe Jaramillo has been hiding out in Mexico since 2022.
He will be arraigned in the Arapahoe County case on Oct. 13.